Purple Pitaya has unveiled its second-generation software-defined instrumentation household, the Gen 2 household — promising enhanced efficiency, decreased noise, and the choice of a “considerably bigger” FPGA and double the reminiscence within the range-topping STEMlab 125-14 Professional Z7020 Gen 2.
“With the Gen 2 lineup, we’re reworking the panorama of modular, software-defined instrumentation,” claims Purple Pitaya’s chief technical officer Črt Valentinčič in assist of the launch. “By working carefully with trade leaders and proactive engagement with our rising consumer neighborhood, we’re offering progressive options particularly designed for industrial wants. Our choices boast superior efficiency, enhanced reliability, and alignment with the newest technological developments.”
Purple PItaya has formally unveiled its second-generation software-defined instrumentation platform. (📷: Purple Pitaya)
The brand new boards construct on the corporate’s present STEMlab 125-14 platform of single-board instrumentation units, launched again in 2013 through a crowdfunding marketing campaign that raised over 1 / 4 of million {dollars}. Most are constructed across the identical AMD Xilinx Zynq 7010 SoC FPGA, with a an built-in {hardware} dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 processor, and include the identical 512MB of reminiscence as their predecessors. The micro-USB port has been switched to trendy USB Kind-C connector, including assist for as much as 5V 3A energy attracts, and the gigabit Ethernet port stays intact — with Wi-Fi obtainable as an elective add-on through a dongle.
These coming from an present STEMlab 125-14, in actual fact, will probably be hard-pushed to identify a distinction — however digging into the specs reveals just a few comparatively minor modifications, past the promise of decrease noise ranges. First amongst these is the brand new choice of ±2V hi-Z RF output, alongside the prevailing ±1V at 50Ω. The second is, nonetheless, a loss: the general-purpose enter/output (GPIO) pins on the board now embody solely ±5V and ±3.3V voltages, with the unique mannequin’s -4V rail dropped. There’s additionally no SATA connector, beforehand used to daisy-chain a number of boards collectively, and the unpopulated QSPI footprint for elective on-board boot storage has been eliminated.
The corporate has confirmed three fashions within the new Gen 2 line-up, together with one with a bigger AMD Xilinx Zynq 7020 FPGA. (📷: Purple Pitaya)
Additional up the vary, although, you begin to discover some actual enhancements. The brand new STEMlab 125-14 Professional Gen 2 has the identical base specs however provides in assist for exterior clock inputs by way of a brand new E3 connector, and regains multi-board synchronization over a USB Kind-C hyperlink between boards. The identical E3 connector can be used for an elective add-on module with QSPI and eMMC storage, as an elective boot gadget rather than the SD Card.
Lastly, the STEMlab 125-14 Professional Z7020 Gen 2 switches from the AMD Xilinx Zynq 7010 to the bigger Zynq 7020 — including extra FPGA logic components for customized gateware whereas doubling the RAM to 1GB. The highest-end mannequin additionally beneficial properties assist for high-speed differential pairs, whereas retaining the E3 connector and daisy-chain assist of the Zynq 7010 mannequin.
Purple Pitaya is showcasing the brand new STEMlab 125-14 Gen 2 at Embedded World in Nuremberg this week; extra info is obtainable on the corporate’s web site, the place events can signal as much as a waitlist for when orders open.
